Department: Office of Historic Preservation
Department Head: Shanon Shea Miller
Council district impacted: District 5
Subject: Resolution to proceed with landmark designation for 523 N. Colorado
Summary: This resolution requests direction from City Council to move forward with historic landmark designation for the property at 523 N. Colorado. The Historic and Design Review Commission (HDRC) recommended a Finding of Historic Significance for this property on March 19, 2014.
Background Information: The commercial structure at 523 N. Colorado occupies the Southwest corner of N. Colorado and Morales Streets. Corner stores, called tiendas or tienditas, were common throughout San Antonio until after World War II before the interstate system and large chain grocery stores changed the way people obtained their groceries.
The structure was constructed by 1935 at the latest. A one-story store building first appears on the 1935 Sanborn map with an address of 525 Morales. At that time, a residence was attached to the store with an address of 523 Morales. The property appears in the City Directory by 1915, but any indication of a commercial use at this address doesn't appear in the directories until 1940 at the latest when Mrs. Concepcion Martinez was listed as living at that address as a grocer. The 1951 City Directory indicates that The Little Grocery Store operated out of this address. The attached house originally listed at 523 Morales is now gone. The store, which faces N. Colorado, now bears the N. Colorado address.
This property exemplifies the typical early 20th century, small-scale commercial structures seen on the Westside of San Antonio. The store has a false front parapet, a common feature on shop buildings, and the Sanborn maps indicated a porch on the front, most likely an awning that extended out from the front of the shop. This is a rapidly disappearing resource type throughout San Antonio's inner city neighborhoods.
The property at 5...
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